Lucy apparently had an
excellent voice. She sang alto according to her brother Edmund. The
story is told that at some point she sang at the Crystal Palace in
London with her
daughter Hannah and that this might have been related to Queen
Victoria's Jubilee. Hannah
was born in 1899 and the last jubilee for Queen Victoria was in 1897;
Queen Victoria died
in 1901.So if she sang with Hannah would have to have been after about
1909 and would not
have been for Queen Vicoria. Perhaps they sang at the coronation of
George V in 1911.
Her daugher Blodwyn wrote this about her mother: "My mother was born in Mountain Ash where she was buried. My mother's father was Morgan John Thomas, his wife was Margaret Vaughan. My mother's mother had a brother David Vaughan. He married a Sarah Thomas who was her father's sister, therefore a brother and a sister married a brother and a sister -- rather hard to understand. . . .My mother told me that her own mother died and her father remarried Mary Miles . . .who was a bar-maid in a local pub. . . . her brother was Edmund Miles . . . They [Morgan John Thomas and Mary Miles] had five children, three sons, two daughters. My mother told me she was cruel to my mother and her brother John. My mother ran away from home. Her father and her brother went looking for her. They found her, she was in domestic service, and took her back home. She was responsible for looking after her five step-brothers and sisters.. Her step-mother was not very workish. I don't know how it came about my mother was eighteen a good singer and a good looking woman. She married my father Edmund Miles who was fifteen years older than my mother."
|
| Birth
Registration of Edmund Miles |
There are no known photographs of Edmund. He was 15 years older than his wife Lucy Ann. His son Edmund recalled: "He worked in the mines from age of 8. He was a small man -- according to Lucy Ann he was strong. He got asthma at the end. He was was illiterate -- never schooled. The last thing he said to Edmund was "Look after and be good to your mother".
Edmund's daugher Blodwyn, late in life, wrote this about her father: "I only know his father died leaving his wife with five children, three sons, my father the eldest, eight years old and two younger daughters. My father never attended school. In those days you had to pay to go to school. My father went down the coal mine when he was so young eight years old to help to support the family. He was born in a different shire to my mother. It was Monmouthshire. . . .[my mother] told me he was a good husband for a while, but he too (like his sister Mary) did not care for work later on."
Edmund Miles and Lucy Ann Thomas were married in the third quarter of 1888 in Bedwellty , Edmund's birthplace. Lucy Ann was 13 years younger than Edmund. They had a lage family. There were at least fifteen children born in the years between 1888 and 1908; of these three died in infancy and the remainder are listed in the table below.
Children of Edmund Miles and Lucy Ann Thomas[1]
| Name | Date of birth | Date/Place of Birth | Married to | Date of Death | Place of Death |
| Morgan
John |
abt 1888 | Phoebe Davis |
|||
| Thomas Emrys | 1st Qtr 1890[2] | Pontypridd[1] | December 7, 1911 | Mountain Ash |
|
| Margaret Ann |
4th Qtr 1891[2] | Tonnypandy | Frank Wright | ||
| Ester Mary |
abt 1892 | Pontypridd[1] | Walter Jenkins | ||
| Martha May | February 5, 1896[3] | Mountain Ash |
William Charles Morgan |
February 8, 1926[3] | Mountain Ash |
| William Llwelelyn | 2nd Qtr 1897[2] | Pontypridd[1] | 1st Qtr 1903[2] | Mountain Ash | |
| Sarah Ella | 4th Qtr 1898[2] | Pontypridd[1] | John Vaughan |
Toronto | |
| Hannah Maud | November 19, 1899[3] | Pontypridd[1] | Joshua Henry Plank, Charles Jesse Croucher | March 28, 1986 | Bournemouth |
| Edmund Miles |
January 01, 1904[3] | Mountain Ash |
Edith Coles |
Abt. 2004 |
Toronto |
| Blodwyn | April 12, 1905[3] | Mountain Ash |
Reginald Morgan |
Abt. 2002 |
Toronto |
| Annie | 4 Qtr. 1906[2] | Mountain Ash |
Albert Ashton |
||
| Ivor | 2nd Qtr. 1909[3] | Mountain Ash |
Rhoda, Marie | Toronto |
We are fortunate in
having two portraits of Lucy that have been
preserved in the family
 |
|||
| Portrait of Lucy Ann Thomas
about 1900. Original in possession of granddaughter Mary Northover |
We do not have any
photographs so far of Edmund; hopefully as this project progresses some
will appear. We do however possess a photograph taken about 1912
(family lore states it was taken shortly after the death of Emrys)
which includes Lucy and her younger children (perhaps because no
photograph of Emrys existed).
 |
| Martha
May, Blodwyn, Hannah Maud, Annie, Lucy Ann, Ivor, Edmund |
The photograph is
interesting in a few ways. Missing of the younger
children is Sarah Ella (always known as Ella). The family was poor and
an English family
took Ella in (see below for more details). We are told that the
photographs was
taken shortly after the death of Thomas Emrys in December 1911. This
would make Ivor about 3 years
old that might be about right. Edmund Sr. is not in the photograph nor
are the three older
surviving children Morgan John, Margaret and Ester.
 |
| 1891 census: |
1901
 |
 |
| 1901 census |
From about 1906,
Edmund
and Lucy lived at Bethel Villa in Miskin, Mountain Ash. The house still
exists, much improved. It is a standard "2 up 2 down" style of building
at many times housed as many as a dozen people in the family, spanning
three generations.
 |
| Bethel Villa is the left half of
the duplex in this photograph taken in June 2008 |
Edmund recalled that when [his father Edmund] died there was a big snowstorm in Wales . The date was 27 Mar 1922. The entry in the burial ground records at Aberdare reads as follows:
Burial Entry #3253, Maes-yr-arian Burial Ground in Mountain Ash
"Edmund Miles, 68 years, died 27 Mar 1922, Llanwanno, 52 Clarence St.
Mountain Ash,
re-open, buried April 1st at 4:30, Rev S. Morgan, person making burial
is Morgan Miles, 52
Clarence St. Mountain Ash." The entry reveals that the grave already
contained a body (Emrys) and so was re-opened. It also indicates that
the oldest son Morgan Miles made the burial arrangements, and that he
lived at 52 Clarence St. in Mountain Ash. It indicates, too, that
Edmund died in his son Morgan's house.
Lucy Ann suffered a number of strokes during the 1920's after her
husband's death. Her
(by then orphaned) granddaughter Phyllis slept with her in the last few
years of her life.
Phyllis remembered, and was affected all her life, by the trauma of
waking up one morning
and finding that her grandmother was dead. Whether this is an actual
event might be
incorrect as the location from which Lucy Ann died was West Lodge and
not the Clarence St.
location. Lucy's funeral was well attended as shown in the following
obituary note that was published in a local paper. (Note: The obituary is helpful in this
Miles Family Tree project for the identification of family members and
their locations)
 |
| The
Obituary Notice for Lucy Miles |
The entry for Lucy's burial reads is below.
Burial Entry #5119 Maes-yr-arian Cemetery, Mountain Ash
"Lucy Ann Miles, 61 years, Widow, died 26 February 1930, West Lodge,
Mountain Ash,
Llanwanno, Reopen, grave # 112, buried 4:30 p.m., 1 March 1930, Rev.
John Phillips, E.
Miles, 74 Consort St. Mountain Ash." Here we see that the son, Edmund
has made the burial arrangements for his mother.
Also buried in this grave (indeed before either of his parents) was
their sonThomas
Emrys who died in 1911. The entry for his burial is below.
Burial Entry 513 Maes-yr-arian Cemetery, Mountain Ash
Thomas Miles, 21 years, Collier, died 7 Dec. 1911, 3 Bethel Villas,
Consort Street,
Mountain Ash, Llanwanno, Ordinary, grave #1124, buried 4:15 Dec 12,
1911, Rev. L. Bevan,
The mark of Edmund Miles, 3 Bethyl Villas, Consort Street, Mountain Ash.
(Note: These transcriptions (made by great grandson Kenneth Scott) may be inaccurate as the grave they were buried in was one while the recorded transcriptions have different numbers.)
In the period preceding her death, Lucy suffered one or more strokes. In the cramped conditions of that time her granddaugter, Phyllis May Morgan slept with her. On the morning of February 26 when Phyllis awoke, her grandmother did not; Phyllis felt the emotional shock of this the rest of her life.
 |
|
| The headstone of Edmund and
Lucy.
The grave also contains the body of their son Emrys. We note that the
date of death for Edmund is not correct. He died on March 27, 1922. The
stone was erected many years later by some of his descendants and
either they, or the monument company, made the error. |
The grave of Edmund and Lucy.
This photograph was taken about 1998 shortly after some grandchildren
had
arranged for the gravesite to be cleaned up. |
[1] The
registration district is Pontypridd; The registration subdistrict is
Llanwanno and the event probably was in Mountain Ash
[2] FreeBMD
website. This website gives online access to the
birth, marriage and death registrations in the U.K. These registrations
are indexed by quarter from 1837 onwards. Not all records yet appear on
the site.
[3] Information provided by a family member or registration
document.
[4] Photograph by great grandson Kenneth Scott in 2008.
[5] IGI of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
(available at http://www.familysearch.org/)
[6] Copy of obituary notice provided by granddaughter Mary
Northover
Acknowledgements:
Many
members of the Miles family have contributed to
this compilation. In addition the FreeBMD and the LDS.org
websites have provided much data.
© Kenneth Scott and others 2008
